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I find making images with my iPhone extremely stimulating. For me, the device implicitly offers an invitation to play, reminding myself how important spontaneity is in making good images, and to experiment, growth and innovation require risk. Doing this offers me an opportunity to make images in situations, of things, in ways I ordinarily wouldn’t. It also raises very important questions, “When should I use a more professional tool?”, “When should I return to my standard practices?”, “What’s gained and what’s lost?” I haven’t found a single easy answer. I’ve found many hard ones – and more questions. Simply engaging this process has made me see in more versatile ways and make stronger images, both studies and finished works.

Here are a few of my recent experiments.

Use standard tools as props.

Bring new props.

Make postcards.

Combine photographs and drawings.

Make double exposures.

Create composites.

When I start making images with my iPhone that I would ordinarily make with a DSLR it’s probably time for me to switch tools – again.

We made many memories during our recent boutique (limited to 6) workshop in Amalfi, Italy. The coastal towns of Amalfi and Positano (famous for making world class ceramics, paper and limoncello), the international concert series in Ravello, the sunny Isle of Capri, the Greek ruins of Paestum, and the ruins of Pompeii once buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius are a few of the places we visited. Of course, the food and wine was fantastic!

You can enjoy my images of from our recent adventure on Google+. They’re an assortment of spontaneous sketches, rather than a collection of fully finished pieces that develop a cohesive theme. They’re not likely to become a body of work, but a few of them will influence other bodies of work.

If you’d like to use HDR techniques for your mobile photographs you’ve got choices. Moving from simple and limited to more complex and robust, consider these three: first, the iPhone Camera app’s built in HDR function; second, the app Pro HDR; and third the app TrueHDR. I use all three, moving from one to another as the contrast of the scene increases.

The strength of HDR renderings and the artifacts they tend to produce can be varied to suit individual tastes. Regardless of whether you favor a light touch or a heavy hand, if you photograph, with or without a smart phone, sooner or later you’ll need HDR. It’s an essential technique …

“No one needs to learn to “think outside the box” more than photographers. The frame, literally a box, is often our greatest ally. Learning to see photographically is in part learning to see within the limits of this box and use them creatively. But there are times when this limits our vision unnecessarily. Once we’ve learned to see within the box, we then need to learn to see outside the box — and start extending the frame to perfect select compositions. There are three ways to do this; crop (after exposure), sweep (make extended format exposures in camera), or stitch (blend separate exposures together); or combine all three. Extending format techniques aren’t just for panoramic image formats. They can be used to give you the extra inch that can make all the difference in the world for your compositions.

Stitching has multiple functions, making it an essential skill for today’s photographer. Regardless of whether you use panoramic aspect ratios, the practice of extending format through photo merges can help you perfect many compositions in ways that are often challenging and in some cases impossible to do otherwise. It can help you choose a better angle of view without eliminating essential information or include essential information when you either can’t or don’t have time to change angle of view. When this skill becomes second nature, you’ll find that you’ve become visually more versatile, flexible, productive, and accomplished. Extended format techniques offer new ways of seeing.”

Find out about the iPhone apps that will help you make the best panoramic images …

Apple recently shipped new iPhones (5S and 5C) and a new mobile operating system (iOS7).

If you’re an “iphonographer” should you upgrade? If you’re using the iPhone 5, for most it’s probably not a big enough upgrade (lower noise, new lens, new flash) to justify the cost. If you’re using an earlier model it is a good time to upgrade (and you’ll want the 5s); you’ll get substantially better capture quality.

Whether you upgrade your iPhone or not your photography will benefit from upgrading to iOS7 with its 200 new features and improvements.

Here’s a roundup of useful resources for iPhone 5S and iOS7 to help you make the transition.